Dale Partridge - PART ONE： God's Sovereignty and Man's Will

00:00:00.000 Amen. Well, I'm typically going through more verses than one, but today we're going through

00:00:08.860 one verse, and I'm doing a two-part series on one verse, because this verse is an important

00:00:17.540 verse in the New Testament. Pray for me as I preach, because my throat this week has

00:00:26.120 been struggling through some sickness, and I'm asking the Lord's favor on it as I continue to

00:00:34.860 get through this. Chapter 8, what an incredible, incredible New Testament chapter. It's primarily

00:00:45.500 focused on the truth that although we are spiritually saved, although we are alive and

00:00:53.660 free from the condemning power of sin through faith in christ that's the first verse right

00:00:58.700 therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus so that's where we started

00:01:03.740 that's the opening verse of chapter 8 and although we have this state of no condemnation

00:01:13.100 we still experience physical death suffering persecution trials tragedy

00:01:21.020 the consequences of the curse of the fall.

00:01:26.300 But in verse 18, Paul emphasized that the sufferings we endure in this present time

00:01:31.740 cannot be compared to the glory that awaits for us in the future.

00:01:38.020 Then Paul acknowledged that due to the curse, our bodies, they groan.

00:01:43.760 The creation groans.

00:01:44.940 We groan in this weight that we have for the restoration of all things.

00:01:53.480 Yet we do not groan in sorrow and despair.

00:01:56.580 We groan with hopeful expectation.

00:02:01.900 We are trusting in the promises of redemption.

00:02:05.900 And even in our weakness, when we don't know how to pray,

00:02:08.520 last week we learned that the Holy Spirit comes in our weakness and helps us pray,

00:02:13.000 intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

00:02:22.220 But not only does the Holy Spirit go in there and actually join us in prayer,

00:02:26.980 magnifying our prayers, He actually takes our prayers, takes our groanings,

00:02:31.240 the inaudible, suffering prayers.

00:02:37.740 I'm sure all of you have been there that have any age under their belt,

00:02:41.600 have had a prayer that is more like groaning than it is like speaking.

00:02:47.580 And we learn that the Holy Spirit takes those prayers

00:02:50.840 and conveys the inaudible truths to the Father.

00:02:56.660 So that although we are unclear, they are clear requests to God.

00:03:05.140 Ultimately, that taught us that everything in this life,

00:03:09.100 Everything in the Christian life holds value to God.

00:03:12.520 Even our smallest groans and sorrows,

00:03:15.440 which can seem insignificant in the vastness of the universe,

00:03:18.480 they actually find value and are heard by the Father.

00:03:24.080 I think of Psalm 56, 8 through 9, it says,

00:03:27.880 You have kept count of my tossings, put my tears in your bottle.

00:03:33.180 This I know, that God is for me.

00:03:36.420 And this is the overarching theme thus far, that Christians are not left alone in our suffering.

00:03:46.080 Between having the assurance of no condemnation for our sins in Christ, between the promise of

00:03:53.240 future glory and the resurrected future state of our bodies and the eternal world, the reality of

00:04:00.100 having a living hope in trials, the great gift of the Spirit of God's help in our weakness that

00:04:05.960 communicates the deepest prayers of our heart with groanings too deep for words is conveyed to

00:04:11.580 the Father. Between all these things, they're essentially graces that believers have an arsenal

00:04:17.120 of divine resources that we're not left in our trials without help. And today, we see that there

00:04:25.980 is more. There is a further dimension of grace that will bring you, as a Christian, ultimate

00:04:37.280 comfort and consolation. We learn that our God, like a master conductor, over an orchestra

00:04:46.060 is coordinating all things in our lives. From our sin and our suffering, from our trials

00:04:53.460 and tragedy, from our obedience and sanctification, all of these are being orchestrated in a way

00:05:00.900 that brings about our good and God's glory.

00:05:10.080 This should bring great comfort to you if you've stumbled or failed or have made mistakes

00:05:17.240 or have been broken.

00:05:21.520 R.C. Sproul's son, R.C. Sproul Jr.,

00:05:24.600 many years ago, he received a DUI,

00:05:30.380 bringing great shame to his family and to his father.

00:05:34.780 He repented.

00:05:36.120 He's a fruitful and faithful man going forward.

00:05:40.780 But he wrote recently that his wife passed along a quote

00:05:47.060 And it said, if you think you've blown God's plan for your life, rest in this.

00:05:54.240 You, my friend, are not that powerful, end quote.

00:05:59.420 And that is the substance of this passage today.

00:06:04.100 It's to show you the extent of God's sovereign will in your life.

00:06:12.160 It's to show you that even your failures cannot ruin God's plan for your life.

00:06:21.180 As Christians, it can seem that our lives are disordered and chaotic.

00:06:27.380 I don't know how many times I've sat there going, Lord, what?

00:06:34.200 Why this?

00:06:34.920 but this verse as we're going to see today

00:06:42.640 highlights the love of God through his ultimate control of your life

00:06:50.720 now we don't like that idea of having ultimate control of our life but

00:06:57.420 we're going to discuss this and learn that it is a great verse of peace

00:07:02.220 As the Apostle Paul knows, he's a master of anticipation.

00:07:13.460 If you've read anything by Paul, he is constantly anticipating the resistance, the misunderstandings,

00:07:20.960 the lack of clarity that might be perceived by his recipients to his writings.

00:07:26.580 He's constantly anticipating these.

00:07:29.540 And as we discussed last week, it might have seemed that the Roman Christians, in their

00:07:38.600 suffering, felt like they were alone and their groanings were too deep for words.

00:07:42.600 We found out that those are conveyed to the Father.

00:07:45.060 But as we saw, the apostle reassured them that even those inaudible groans, they're

00:07:51.400 actually clearly made of the substance of those groans, are made clear to the Father.

00:07:57.100 Now, the natural response to that reality is that if the Father hears my groanings, why doesn't He take away their cause?

00:08:12.160 If the Father hears because the Spirit conveys the deep parts of my suffering to the Father, why does He not rescue me from these trials?

00:08:23.700 and if you have not asked that question you're just not old enough because it is an absolute

00:08:32.940 reality in the Christian life why Lord if you hear my prayers why have you not taken

00:08:43.800 the suffering from me and to this the apostle writes and we know that God causes all things

00:08:53.080 is to work together for good for those who love God,

00:08:56.400 to those who are called according to his purpose.

00:09:02.440 In our desire to escape pain,

00:09:06.240 we struggle to see its value.

00:09:10.820 We cannot grasp how a web of sufferings

00:09:15.060 can somehow bring about our good.

00:09:19.220 For a season, Veronica was into weaving

00:09:23.080 and she would have this loom

00:09:25.900 and she was putting together this basically a tapestry.

00:09:29.700 On the front side of the tapestry, it's really beautiful.

00:09:32.200 You can see the patterns, you can see the intention.

00:09:35.300 On the backside of the tapestry,

00:09:37.640 it's all of the raw yarn and the tying of the knots

00:09:41.720 and it looks nothing like the front.

00:09:44.580 And I often think that sometimes our trials

00:09:47.920 are viewed that way from our perspective.

00:09:51.780 We see the back of the tapestry.

00:09:55.400 We don't see the other side that God is building this beautiful, weaving this beautiful story together.

00:10:04.000 All we see is the back, the yarn, the tangles, and it doesn't make sense to us.

00:10:11.580 now theologically speaking uh we are touching on two closely related doctrines now we are going to

00:10:22.960 be smart bible people here right we're going to know doctrine and theology because we don't want

00:10:27.060 to be 10 years into the christian faith and still be babies in interpreting scripture

00:10:31.400 unfortunately that is most of America

00:10:36.240 theologically speaking we are touching on two closely related doctrines the sovereignty of God

00:10:45.740 and the providence of God now the sovereignty of God deals with the authority of God that he has

00:10:54.000 the rights to rule the creation as he wills the providence of God is dealing with the same reality

00:11:00.900 but it's showing his provision how he creates and sustains his children his creation

00:11:12.180 and as you're going to see over the next several weeks sovereignty sovereignty and providence

00:11:17.300 are wonderful gifts to the christian wonderful gifts to know that you're not in ultimate control

00:11:25.700 of your destiny but to know that your life and your soul rests in the hands of the almighty

00:11:34.820 should bring you peace

00:11:38.420 to know that your mistakes are not going to be wasted to know that your pain

00:11:42.260 is not going to be wasted to know that your suffering is not going to be wasted

00:11:47.780 ultimately understanding that every aspect of your life has been orchestrated by divine providence

00:11:52.660 that's going to benefit you. It should offer you assurance and hope.

00:12:02.880 So I want to look at this first part of this verse together. I want to break it open. Imagine

00:12:08.920 like a geode. You break it open and I want to just spend time looking at the absolute beauty

00:12:16.400 and magnificence of the truths in this verse. And this is why we're going to take a few weeks

00:12:21.220 just to get through this one statement.

00:12:25.760 In verse 28, it says, and we know.

00:12:30.360 And we know.

00:12:34.540 He speaks to this promise as if it's some sort of presumption.

00:12:38.360 We know it already.

00:12:42.880 Personally, I can relate.

00:12:45.300 I think you can relate too, because when I look at my life,

00:12:48.820 when I look at my sufferings,

00:12:51.760 when I look at five years of chronic illness

00:12:54.240 that I have been going through,

00:12:55.680 when I look at my ministry,

00:12:58.500 I can see that what should have resulted in a net negative

00:13:03.920 has somehow resulted in a net positive.

00:13:10.660 What should have put me into bondage

00:13:12.920 has somehow set me into freedom.

00:13:15.680 What should have crushed my soul

00:13:17.780 and led me to hopelessness and despair has somehow led me to joy and sanctification

00:13:28.980 anyone who is a born-again believer

00:13:33.060 can review their life and agree with this claim of this passage

00:13:40.260 we know that god causes all things to work together for our good

00:13:48.340 Just for a moment, just look at your life.

00:13:51.200 Not through the carnal metrics of success and materialism,

00:13:56.080 but the lens of sanctification, just for a moment.

00:13:59.600 Has God not orchestrated your life in a manner

00:14:02.260 that has resulted in your spiritual good?

00:14:08.580 Have you not borne the fruit of the spirit of God

00:14:12.360 in greater degree?

00:14:13.120 Are you not reaping a greater harvest of humility and peace?

00:14:22.360 If not, if you say no to those conclusions, the only explanation for that reality is that

00:14:28.820 you are either blind or not saved.

00:14:34.140 No saved individual can reflect on their life with sobriety, with spiritual reality, and

00:14:42.320 And claim that they are in a worse condition for now choosing to follow Christ.

00:14:49.240 God is working all things together for your good.

00:14:53.480 Do you know it?

00:14:55.160 Is it evident?

00:14:56.560 The scriptures claim that you know this.

00:15:02.580 But then Paul affirms this truth with a titanic statement.

00:15:09.740 He says, God causes all things to work together for good.

00:15:18.740 Now, most Christians will affirm the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.

00:15:26.380 I actually don't know any Christian that says, oh yeah, God is not sovereign.

00:15:32.800 But they do not, in many cases, allow that doctrine to reach its logical conclusion.

00:15:42.360 That is that they permit the idea in theory.

00:15:45.440 Pay attention folks, because some of you are here.

00:15:49.360 They permit the idea of the sovereignty of God in theory, but they deny it in action.

00:15:59.680 And the reason they deny God's sovereignty in action is because of two reasons. 0.78

00:16:06.180 Number one, first, many Christians have bought into the unbiblical idea of humans having 0.72

00:16:12.560 a free will. 0.96

00:16:14.180 Okay?

00:16:15.180 We're going to talk about free will today. 0.99

00:16:18.920 Second, most Christians do not have the theological glossary to distinguish and recognize the

00:16:27.940 difference between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. They don't know how 0.95

00:16:35.180 to reconcile those two realities. Now, before I deal with these two matters, I'm

00:16:44.200 gonna read some scripture that is going to just give you a brief idea of the

00:16:49.780 degree of sovereignty that the Bible talks about. If you want to get upset,

00:16:57.220 you're upset with the Bible. Not me. Psalm 115.3. Our God is in the heavens. He does all that he

00:17:07.300 pleases. Psalm 135.6. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth. Daniel 4.35.

00:17:21.160 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will.

00:17:27.220 in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.

00:17:32.260 No one can restrain his hand or say to him,

00:17:34.860 what have you done?

00:17:37.200 Isaiah 46, 9 through 11.

00:17:40.080 For I am God and there is no other.

00:17:43.020 I am God and there is none like me.

00:17:45.660 Declaring the end from the beginning

00:17:47.760 and from ancient times, things that have not yet been done.

00:17:52.660 Saying my counsel shall stand

00:17:54.980 and I will do all of my pleasure. Calling a bird of prey from the east,

00:18:03.200 the man who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken to it. 0.65

00:18:09.640 I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will do it.

00:18:13.860 The extent of the sovereignty goes to birds of prey. Just making sure you caught that.

00:18:18.500 Job 42.2, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be prevented.

00:18:28.820 Proverbs 19.21, many are the plans of the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord

00:18:34.640 that will stand. Proverbs 16.9, the heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

00:18:43.280 Isaiah 45 7 I form light and create darkness I make well-being and create

00:18:51.520 calamity I am the Lord who does all these things Ephesians 1 1 or 1 11 in him

00:18:59.240 we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the

00:19:03.440 purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will

00:19:08.720 Matthew 6 26 look at the birds of the air they do not sow or reap or store away

00:19:15.260 in barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not much more

00:19:20.780 valuable than they Matthew 10 29 through 30 are not two sparrows sold for a penny

00:19:27.920 and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father's will

00:19:35.860 but even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

00:19:40.320 Last verse, Acts 17, 28.

00:19:44.100 For in him we live and move and have our being.

00:19:49.540 I'll actually give one more.

00:19:50.720 It's printed on the front of my Bible.

00:19:52.840 For from him and through him and to him are all things.

00:19:57.140 To him be the glory forever and ever.

00:19:59.620 Amen.

00:19:59.860 them. This is just a small sample of literally hundreds of verses that support the providence

00:20:09.080 and the sovereignty of God. So let's get into these two issues. The two issues that prevent

00:20:19.100 people from submitting to the reality to the extent of this doctrine you've often

00:20:32.120 heard me say we have a will but it's never free it's either enslaved to sin

00:20:42.420 or it's enslaved to Christ you have a will but it's never free now the will

00:20:53.220 is best defined as our highest desire that is your will it is your highest

00:21:00.200 desire and outside of Christ when your soul is dead and separated from God and

00:21:07.440 your flesh your carnality dominates your affections you do what you your body

00:21:15.300 wants to do your highest desire is for sin and it's for self Romans 6 6 speaks

00:21:25.740 to our slavery of sin it says this we know that our old self was crucified

00:21:32.040 with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we

00:21:36.100 would no longer be enslaved to sin, end quote. Ephesians 2, 1 through 3 offers us a biography

00:21:44.540 of who you are prior to coming to Christ. It says, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in

00:21:55.980 which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of

00:22:01.460 the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all

00:22:07.040 once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind,

00:22:13.680 and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind."

00:22:19.580 Pre-Christ, I don't care if you were six or 65, that is your biography.

00:22:28.580 Matthew 7, 17 through 19, Jesus speaks to the connection between our nature and our behavior.

00:22:38.520 He says, so every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

00:22:48.880 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

00:22:53.180 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

00:23:00.540 Ultimately, he's teaching that behavior follows nature.

00:23:08.700 Fruit follows root.

00:23:11.940 Make sense?

00:23:14.400 In fact, I'm going to just take a second to talk about something.

00:23:19.260 Even a person's good works, follow me here, even a person's good works, which may appear

00:23:27.280 as good for those of us who can only see the outside, we can only see the exterior of a

00:23:35.960 person, they may appear good or not actually good unless they come from a good nature.

00:23:44.320 Jesus saw this in the Pharisees over and over again

00:23:48.340 that is in order for our works to qualify as good fruit

00:23:52.420 they must come from good roots

00:23:54.820 for that reason the humanitarian that gives to the poor

00:24:02.200 from the outside it looks moral

00:24:05.460 it's like the Pharisee you're a whitewashed tomb

00:24:09.480 the outside is beautiful but the inside is full of dead bones

00:24:13.740 but for the humanitarian that gives to the poor but rejects christ in the heart

00:24:22.220 what may look good from the outside is not good on the inside because it's not

00:24:30.760 being done for the glory of christ it's being done for the glory of self

00:24:36.020 which is exactly why isaiah 46 6 says and all of our good works are like filthy rags to god

00:24:43.720 what does hebrews say without faith you cannot please god if something's not done

00:24:53.160 in faith it is not pleasing to god no matter how moral it may be

00:25:02.600 now when a person is born again when a person is made new they've turned away

00:25:08.520 away from the sinfulness of their life, they've recognized that they are not good.

00:25:16.640 They've recognized that on Judgment Day, if they stood before God, they would be measured

00:25:22.500 against the law of God and they would come short.

00:25:25.480 When they realize this, when they recognize that they must trust on the righteousness

00:25:31.780 of Christ that is given to them by faith, when they are truly regenerate, when they're

00:25:38.080 So not trusting in their own behavior, but trusting in the perfect obedience of Christ.

00:25:47.020 When their roots have changed.

00:25:49.760 When they've been made new.

00:25:56.340 When their affections are no longer dominated, their highest desire is no longer for sin

00:26:01.660 and satan and for satanic realities but their highest desire is now for christ and righteousness

00:26:12.060 romans 6 17 through 18 says but thanks be to god that you who were once slaves of sin

00:26:21.100 have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed

00:26:27.500 and having been set free from sin

00:26:30.580 have become slaves of righteousness.

00:26:33.980 Amen?

00:26:35.960 Ultimately, man is only free

00:26:38.460 to operate according to his nature.

00:26:42.720 You need to hear this.

00:26:45.860 Man is only free to operate

00:26:48.820 according to his nature.

00:26:52.660 He, you, are enslaved to your nature.

00:26:57.500 If your nature is in Christ, then you are enslaved to Christ. 0.92

00:27:03.860 If your nature is in the flesh, you are enslaved to the flesh.

00:27:10.660 But what you are not free to do, please listen here,

00:27:14.740 what you are not free to do is to change your nature.

00:27:20.680 You cannot change your nature without God doing it for you.

00:27:25.000 In the same way that you cannot born yourself again, you cannot change your nature.

00:27:33.440 This is where man's free agency, which we will discuss in a little bit, and God's sovereignty

00:27:40.420 break different ways.

00:27:44.440 Jeremiah 13, 23 says, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? 0.98

00:27:49.520 Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. 0.99

00:27:55.000 You can't change yourself.

00:27:57.900 That word of custom in the Hebrew is actually the same word that we use for disciple.

00:28:02.520 You could even say, who are disciples of evil.

00:28:08.100 The changing of our nature is a divine work.

00:28:14.200 to go from being spiritually dead

00:28:21.920 and our highest desire to be in self

00:28:26.260 and to go now becoming spiritually alive

00:28:30.580 and our highest desire is Christ.

00:28:34.080 It's not a work of human will.

00:28:37.560 It is a work of divine will.

00:28:41.040 This is very important.

00:28:44.200 We often think that the way salvation works is I, of my own free will, am persuaded to change my

00:28:59.220 nature and have repentance and then have faith and then born myself again. It is completely

00:29:10.280 opposite in the Bible. Jesus even says, no man can come to me unless the Father draws him.

00:29:22.180 Okay, the biblical reality is this, you're born again first by God's sovereign will.

00:29:31.080 He goes around as the proclamation of the gospel is happening and the Holy Spirit, like the wind,

00:29:37.040 who cannot be controlled or directed

00:29:40.360 is like the midwife to the new birth,

00:29:45.360 giving people ears to hear and eyes to see.

00:29:50.280 And as the gospel comes, 0.88

00:29:54.000 the sheep hear.

00:29:57.300 Goats are not turning into sheep.

00:29:58.940 No sheep hear.

00:30:01.060 The sheep hear the gospel for the first time.

00:30:04.160 and the very things that they loved yesterday are now things that they hate

00:30:10.100 today their entire Constitution changes they're born again they're given faith

00:30:20.780 they're granted repentance and they're made new that that's the biblical

00:30:27.740 narrative and therefore you get to say all glory be to Christ for by grace you

00:30:36.380 have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God

00:30:44.840 lest anyone should boast it's not just the grace that's a gift it's not just

00:30:52.220 the faith that's a gift even though that Jesus is the founder and finisher of

00:30:56.660 your faith. It's the whole thing. It's the whole thing. It's that you're saved by grace through

00:31:05.700 faith. All of it is a gift that you're not involved in, which makes it grace. You can't

00:31:17.940 call something grace when you chose it, that diminishes the reality. But when you realize

00:31:26.780 is that you can't actually do something that you need to do, that God actually has to do

00:31:31.160 it for you, that changes the appreciation of your own salvation. John 1, 12 through 13,

00:31:43.780 in speaking to those who came to Christ,

00:31:47.260 the apostle writes,

00:31:49.060 but to all who did receive him,

00:31:51.140 who believed in his name,

00:31:53.540 he gave the right to become children of God

00:31:56.680 who were born, pay attention,

00:32:00.220 not of the blood,

00:32:02.740 nor of the will of the flesh,

00:32:07.200 nor of the will of man,

00:32:09.780 but of God.

00:32:11.280 You weren't born because you were persuaded.

00:32:16.300 You were born because God allowed you to hear what many cannot hear.

00:32:26.940 He allowed you to see what many cannot see.

00:32:31.240 Do you know that people didn't hear the gospel when Jesus proclaimed it?

00:32:38.560 Do you know how many people rejected the gospel from the man who could preach the most clear gospel?

00:32:50.220 It's not about intellectual persuasion.

00:32:58.500 Romans 9.16, in speaking to whom God saves, the apostle writes,

00:33:03.100 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

00:33:12.780 Are you going to submit to the reality of these passages?

00:33:21.020 I've often told people, imagine you stand before the Lord.

00:33:30.760 And the Lord says, why are you here?

00:33:34.100 Well, because I trusted in the righteousness of Christ

00:33:37.700 and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for my sins.

00:33:42.760 And the father says, amen.

00:33:46.560 But why are you here and your brother John is not?

00:33:50.720 He heard the gospel.

00:33:54.700 Well, because I believed and he didn't.

00:33:58.960 Well, why did you believe and he didn't?

00:34:03.100 no matter what you do in that question,

00:34:08.980 you will get to a boast.

00:34:13.200 Well, because I was smarter, because I was wiser,

00:34:17.060 because I was more spiritually sensitive,

00:34:20.300 because I was more aware of the need.

00:34:24.620 No matter what you do, you end up in a situation

00:34:28.160 where you give yourself a little bit of credit

00:34:30.780 for the catalyst of your own salvation.

00:34:35.520 That's why we have all these t-shirts at baptismals

00:34:38.240 that say, I have decided.

00:34:41.220 Instead of t-shirts that say, God saved me.

00:34:45.720 It is a radically different perspective

00:34:48.020 to realize that God did something for you

00:34:54.120 that you could not do for yourself.

00:35:01.620 So the only one who has a truly free will is God.

00:35:10.260 But we do have what theologians call free agency.

00:35:15.180 I think it's a very helpful term.

00:35:17.560 We are free to operate within our nature.

00:35:20.960 The man with a sinful nature is free to sin.

00:35:27.080 The man with a righteous nature is free to obey Christ.

00:35:30.780 but even in our free agency and pay attention with this even our free agency isn't truly free

00:35:39.960 it does not mean that we are free from the providence of god who works all things together

00:35:46.820 we have to understand that the very act of being a created being

00:35:54.760 necessitates a state of dependence of subordination a predetermined purpose

00:36:00.580 which again is antithetical to the concept of freedom.

00:36:07.220 As creatures, as creatures, we are by default restrained to a particular framework given to us

00:36:15.280 by a creator. Okay. We do not have the ability. You must nod your head yes to this statement.

00:36:22.920 We do not have the ability to act independently of any external authority or influence. You don't.

00:36:30.580 Your whole life has been orchestrated in a way for you to make certain decisions.

00:36:35.540 You are not, cannot, as a creature, ever be truly free.

00:36:43.880 So the concept of having a free, uninfluenced, unimpacted, impartial, unconstrained will 0.97

00:36:54.200 is truly a foolish, illogical, and unbiblical idea. 0.88

00:37:04.780 Yes, we do have responsibility. 0.99

00:37:07.300 Yes, God calls us to make decisions.

00:37:10.200 Yes, God expects that we operate according to his will.

00:37:15.120 And how the two intersect between God's sovereignty

00:37:19.120 and man's responsibility,

00:37:20.660 it is one of three great mysteries of the scriptures.

00:37:24.200 but the truth is we certainly know

00:37:28.460 that we are not free.

00:37:31.960 We are made.

00:37:33.640 We are dust that disobeys God.

00:37:41.300 I think it was Steve Lawson

00:37:43.240 that said we must stop worshiping

00:37:48.240 the pagan goddess of free will in the church.

00:37:50.660 Charles Spurgeon said something along the lines,

00:37:56.380 free will has sent many to hell, but not one soul to heaven.

00:38:04.780 The idea of free will, we have to give up the fact that God violates our will,

00:38:11.220 because if he doesn't, we would never choose him.

00:38:16.340 It's very important.

00:38:18.560 Self-love is blinding.

00:38:20.280 We like to believe that we can do it without God.

00:38:23.220 But what makes the gospel so sweet is that God saved you from what you could not save yourself from.

00:38:33.880 Would you appreciate if I gave you an example of two different saviors?

00:38:40.300 One saved you from a sunburn because he woke you up in your backyard and you were on your back.

00:38:48.640 and he says, hey neighbor, you should wake up, flip over. Saved you from a sunburn.

00:38:56.260 How much appreciation are you going to have? Hey, thank you for doing that.

00:39:00.640 Now, if we look at the other savior, the savior that you're passed out in a burning building

00:39:06.860 on the 50th story, unable to save yourself, completely knocked out, but someone comes in,

00:39:16.860 grabs you without your permission,

00:39:21.280 takes you out of that building, 0.63

00:39:23.900 resuscitates you, and dies in the process.

00:39:30.180 Which savior are you going to appreciate more?

00:39:36.620 Because if you view your salvation

00:39:39.820 as an opportunity that was presented to you

00:39:45.260 and a great business deal,

00:39:46.860 Jesus did his part, I'll do mine.

00:39:49.920 I'll say yes, I'll change my nature.

00:39:51.980 I'll come and follow Jesus.

00:39:55.160 Your appreciation for your salvation

00:39:57.080 and for your savior will be very low,

00:39:59.660 which most Americans hold that view.

00:40:02.380 But if you see that God saved you

00:40:06.160 from something that you would have perished

00:40:08.400 had he not intervened,

00:40:12.680 in the same way that Lazarus was raised from the dead,

00:40:16.860 without his permission.

00:40:19.340 God comes and resurrects your souls

00:40:22.740 without your permission.

00:40:26.500 And not one person in here should be upset about that

00:40:29.380 because God is restoring us to the only version

00:40:34.740 that we are ever designed to be,

00:40:38.420 which is humanity submitted to his will.

00:40:42.220 The freest we can ever be

00:40:48.460 is to be sovereignly restored

00:40:51.140 to what we are designed to be.

00:40:56.200 Worshippers of God.

00:40:59.900 Therefore, as humans, our highest liberty

00:41:02.400 is actually slavery to Christ.

00:41:05.560 Our highest liberty is actually slavery to Christ.

00:41:10.720 You want to be the freest you can possibly be?

00:41:13.540 Come to Christ.

00:41:15.440 You want to be the freest you can possibly be?

00:41:18.560 Submit to Christ.

00:41:21.660 So again, Christians don't generally have a problem

00:41:25.760 with God's sovereignty extending into world realities,

00:41:29.340 into weather, into governments.

00:41:32.260 We all love the God that controls the waters

00:41:36.960 and controls the wind.

00:41:38.260 we don't love the God that controls the tsunami that kills 35,000 people

00:41:47.580 and at the same time looking at Jesus command the ocean and believe the two are not connected

00:41:56.440 but when it comes to a sovereignty that also reaches in deep into your soul and directs

00:42:06.060 your life and directs your destiny and it directs your eternality people have a

00:42:12.420 problem with that because it threatens their autonomy it threatens their

00:42:17.820 autonomy but to this I would say as a Christian why would you not want God to

00:42:29.820 have sovereign control over your life why would you not want God to have

00:42:34.140 sovereign control of your life. Do you not pray the prayer as Christ prayed? Father, your will,

00:42:38.920 not mine, be done. It makes no sense. Make it make sense.

00:42:50.920 I want free will, but at the same time, I'm going to pray that not my will be done,

00:42:54.360 but God's be done. It's a contradictory reality. Therefore, the sovereignty of God

00:43:05.100 is not a doctrine to fear. It's a doctrine to embrace. It's a doctrine to explore.

00:43:15.420 It's not a place of worry. It's a place of rest. You could know that all events in your lives

00:43:22.380 have been orchestrated. Yes. Is there still temptation? Yes. Is there still a devil? Yes.

00:43:29.200 Is there still demonic realities? Yes. But do you remember that it was God who presented Job

00:43:35.180 to Satan? It wasn't Job. It wasn't Satan. God says, have you considered my servant Job?

00:43:44.940 Does God not have rule over the demonic? Does Jesus not say all authority has been given to

00:43:50.580 me in heaven and on earth? Do you not see that he is the ultimate supreme ruler of your life

00:44:00.040 and that every possible element of your life has either been permitted or directed directly from

00:44:05.820 God? Now, if you're not a Christian, that should scare you because God is just

00:44:15.040 and God will uphold his standard of righteousness

00:44:20.280 and you will be condemned.

00:44:23.940 But if you're a believer resting in Christ,

00:44:26.520 this is the greatest news,

00:44:28.240 that you can rest in the absolute sovereignty of God.

00:44:35.120 Psalm 103.8 says,

00:44:36.820 the Lord is merciful and gracious,

00:44:40.240 slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

00:44:45.040 Do we really not want that God at the helm of every possible situation in our life?

00:44:55.160 So as you can see, an intellectual, mental acceptance of the doctrine of sovereignty

00:45:04.700 and providence, it's foundational.

00:45:07.780 We can't even talk about the rest of Romans 8 and 9 without first yielding

00:45:13.200 to the reality that we have a sovereign God

00:45:17.900 who orchestrates every possible detail in our lives.

00:45:28.640 Orchestrating the realities

00:45:30.260 that may seem bad for our good and for his glory.

00:45:37.180 And so next week,

00:45:39.460 next week

00:45:41.680 we'll actually get into the verse

00:45:44.260 and I'm going to break down

00:45:46.940 how

00:45:47.960 how

00:45:49.840 God works together all things for good

00:45:52.940 you can't even

00:45:54.780 talk about how if you're rejecting

00:45:56.500 what

00:45:57.140 we need to first yield

00:46:02.620 that we have

00:46:04.760 a God that can

00:46:07.100 and does

00:46:08.060 sovereignly work in this world.

00:46:13.280 And then next week, we'll get through the rest of this verse.

00:46:17.240 Now, I want to let you guys know,

00:46:18.940 this passage of scripture is the diving board.

00:46:23.160 It's the high dive of Romans.

00:46:26.700 It is about to get so glorious

00:46:31.740 over the next chapter and a half.

00:46:34.000 Do everything in your life to be here for the next several weeks

00:46:39.440 because you will get to see the absolute beauty and magnificence

00:46:45.080 of the gospel over the next several weeks.

00:46:49.520 Amen?

00:46:50.640 Let's pray.

00:46:52.740 Father, we thank you that we are not sovereign.

00:46:58.220 Lord, we thank you that we are not dictating and controlling our own destiny.

00:47:04.000 Lord, we know if we could lose our salvation, we would.

00:47:08.840 And Lord, we ask that you would bless us with a yielding heart, a humble heart, that we

00:47:14.000 would take you at your word.

00:47:19.480 Father, we pray that you would work the truth of the gospel in the hearts of every person

00:47:24.820 in this room.

00:47:26.660 And Lord, that we would revel in it, and that we would glorify you in it.

00:47:33.560 Lord, that this week we would ponder and pray about it,

00:47:37.480 that we would think about it and shout in praise

00:47:41.220 about the beauty of the gospel.

00:47:46.140 We ask, Lord, that you would bless us this week

00:47:48.520 and in the rest of this day.

00:47:50.980 In Jesus' name, amen.

00:47:54.480 Amen.

Dale Partridge - February 29, 2024

PART ONE： God's Sovereignty and Man's Will

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